Bounty Hunting Central!

An Island of the Grand Line!

"THE FIRST ISLAND OF THE GRAND LINE!" shouted Mikoto loudly as he leapt off of the ship and onto the hard rock of the island. The nearby pedestrians all turned about and looked at him for a second. They all shrugged it off and continued on their way. It wasn't the first time they saw an overexcited pirate and definitely not the last. "Beware Grand Line! The Next Pirate King...and the greatest riddle master ever, has just stepped onto his first island!"

Ridley stealthly crept up behind Mikoto and quickly whopped him once upon the head, "do you mind? I'd rather not make everybody on this island think of us as enemies or, in your case, an idiot." Ridley let out a hefty sigh as he made another half-check out across the waters. He couldn't help it. He felt a weird sensation...like when he was he went back to see Karasu...the same insanely cold air. It was almost as if someone was breathing down his neck...

Sage stepped off of the boat next. She felt her feet fall firmly onto the island, the first island of the Grand Line. She gingerly stepped forward up next to her two crew mates. "Don't worry mom...I'll grow those Devil Fruits for you..." whispered Sage quietly, so only she could hear herself. Her resolve was solid now, she wasn't turning back now.

Zesiro slumped up and out of the ship. He was currently walking on a home-made splint Enma made for him. His wounds still hadn't fully healed and he hated that. He was currently put under twenty-four hour security, courtesy of Hiro-Shu, until his wounds healed. This was a huge setback in his goal, he'd never be one of the greatest swordsmen in the world at this rate.

Hiro-Shu was close behind him. He was currently expected to follow Zesiro all around the island, in case some idiot pirates decided to jump him. As Hiro-Shu walked about his mind couldn't help but drift back to his original friends. He remembered that he still needed to find a way to rescue his old friend, Uhn, no matter what.

Enma's hand clamped onto Ridley's shoulder snapping him out of his funk, "don't worry about it. I mean this is the Grand Line. Its a pirate paradise!" announced Enma with a hint of enthusiasm that normally didn't appear in his voice. Enma looked around him. This was a huge stepping stone for the crew...it was with this that they had finally one step closer to all of their dreams. Enma felt giddy with happiness as he thought of the library at Raftel.

"You brats are too loud," said Maria as he peeked out over the rails of the ship. As the crew's official shipwright, she was glad they finally landed. Now she can get all the real work done with the ship! This was probably going to be one of her biggest projects. Only thing she needed was wood, nails, and cannons...definitely cannons. A lot of cannons.

"Hey! Ridley!" shouted Mikoto attracting his crew's attention, "let's go to the bar! We can see and hear all the stories from these old and washed-up pirates! Maybe they even know a good riddle or two!" Mikoto immediately took off northwards rushing out into the island's main town.

"Riddles and stories?" asked Ridley with a hint of pity in his voice, "the boy doesn't even know that bars were constructed strictly so people can get drunk off their asses and just enjoy life to its fullest...and sadly throw-up onto the bathroom floors." Ridley began to walk off after Mikoto, who was by now yards ahead of him.

Sage sighed, "they are going to need someone to watch over them aren't they?" asked Sage. The crew nodded in agreement, "I guess I'll go with them." Sage's hand fell to her side as she resigned herself to her duty. She shuffled after Ridley. If the going got hard...Mikoto would screw up and make everything worse.

"Well," said Maria wiping some sawdust from her pant legs, "I'm going to go buy some things to upgrade the ship. Hopefully, by the time we leave this island we won't be leaving the island on a floating piece of trash." Maria knocked on the ship's wooden side. She looked it up and down one last time and sighed, she'd have her work cut out for her with this great piece of work. "Anyways, It'd help to have someone along to help carry the supplies. I'm going to have a lot of materials...wood, metal, and some kind of heavy artillery. So, which one of you brats is coming with me?"

Zesiro raised his hand eager to do something rather then just sit on the ship and do nothing. Even if it was something as simple as lugging wood and metal around, he'd be happy. Hiro-Shu shrugged and accepted his job as Zesiro's watcher. Besides lugging wood and metal around was kind what his body was built for. Strong and sturdy. That was what his specialty was.

Enma shrugged and sighed, "I guess that means I'm on ship watching duty. Making sure it stays in one piece while the rest of my crew is off gallivanting and having fun. I'd be alone on the ship taking care of it, I guess I'll always have Lucifer to keep me company." Enam spoke with a slight whimper in his voice, almost making it sound like he was really hurt and injured by his crew leaving him. He was sort of hurt by the fact that he would be the only one not viewing the first island.

"You go," said Hiro-Shu as he laid his hand on Enma's shoulder. He didn't care either way. He'd be fine on the ship. He actually enjoyed it. It was one of the few times during the journey that he had absolute peace and quiet. None of Ridley's music and none of Mikoto's rather rambunctious behavior. He could finally sit down and read some of books that he'd been meaning to. Besides he needed to get ready for the Grand Line's weather patterns.

With that decided Enma, Maria, and Zesiro headed off to pick-up some materials for the ship. With those two acting as Zesiro's watchers he should be fine. Even if they are jumped, Maria and Enma could easily protect Zesiro from most ordinary pirates. Now the only thing that mattered is whether or not Zesiro would jump out and fight despite his injuries. Hiro-Shu gave Zesiro more credit then that, but it was debatable...

(-With Sage, Ridley, and Mikoto-)

"...I have used five things today...all with just one name what is it pray?" laughed Mikoto high on top of the table in the bar. A glass of lemonade in his hand, the entire bar gathered around him to see the drunk, yet not drunk pirate making a fool of himself. None of them even trying to offer up an answer to Mikoto's riddle.

"Mikoto, sit down!" shouted Sage grabbing a hold of Mikoto's shirt and yanking him down from the table and back down off of the table and into his own seat. "I can't believe I decided to come here with you and Ridley. I knew you would be doing something stupid..." Sage fell back down into her seat, "where is Ridley?"

"I kid you not, ladies!" shouted Ridley as he relaxed backwards with an open bottle of alcohol in his hand, "that pirate was an evil little kid who transferred his soul into a grizzley bear. Anyways, I was facing down with him as he pulled out a chainsaw that he was using as a weapon. He was swinging that thing around and above my head, bragging about how strong he was... and then I just walked right up to him and swung my trusty old guitar straight into his chin." All of the ladies swooned as they leaned in closer to Ridley to hear his story.

"I don't know who I am more embarrassed of Ridley or...you," said Sage as she watched Mikoto climb back up onto the table to continue regaling the uninterested group of pirates with riddles. Sage once again grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him down to his seat once more. "Do you mind? These pirates are obviously not someone to mess with, right now."

"Who? These stupid ol' sea dogs," laughed Mikoto looking over shoulder at the pirates, "trust me if they have half a brain they'd take interest in riddles and give up on pirating. Like I always said 'only thing it takes to be a pirate is a gun or sword'." Mikoto laughed as he pushed his chair backwards, forcing it onto its hind legs.

Mikoto suddenly felt a cold metal barrel against the side of his face. One of the pirates near to him, that was sitting at the table next to him had apparently heard his last sentence and decided to take action, "only takes a gun and a sword does it? I'll show you what it only takes a gun to do? Any guesses, riddle boy?" the man laughed gently as Mikoto remained quiet, "he's your answer. Killing."

"Rapid Fire x15," muttered Mikoto as he placed his fist directly into the man's abdomen. His arm and fist disappeared as he slammed his fist repeatedly into the man. All of a sudden the man was thrown backwards and through the air with the immense power of Mikoto's punch. The man smashed directly into the wall behind him, shattering it. "Shoot. I hope I don't have to pay for that."

Sage sat back in her chair, wide-eyed as she watched Mikoto's arm. She remembered what Enma said about Mikoto's Rapid Fire. "Now the drawbacks of Mikoto's powerful punch are as follow, first, Mikoto can only do it due to the immense speed of his hybrid form, so if somehow he is slowed down this technique is rendered useless. Secondly, despite the increase in power, Mikoto doesn't actually become stronger. If he punches steel or iron or rock, he will still break his fist as each punch takes the damage seperately.

"Finally, and this is the big one. Ordinarily a single punch has some minor backlash on our arm, namely at our shoulder, but sometimes our wrists and elbows. This means the damage to his arm is magnified by the same amount that his punches are. So, doing a times 20 multiples his punches by 20x its strength, but also increases the backlash by 20. Worse of all, he can't use that arm until it recovers from the backlash...this takes about 10 minutes."

"Basically," Sage thought as she recapped, "Mikoto's punches can't be used if he is slowed down, his fists can still break from punching a hard surface, and he can't use his right arm for an amount of time equal to half the times he used. 20x mean she can't use his arm for 10 minutes. 10x means he can't use it for 5 minutes. Also through trial and error...he can't use anything beyond 25x."

Regardless of all of these downsides, Mikoto's Rapid Fire move is still his all time strongest move. It was possibly the strongest move anyone on the crew could use. That was exactly what the crew needed right now as they had entered the Grand Line. Sage was about to let loose a sigh of relief when she saw the rest of the bar stand up and approach them. Like hounds...they saw someone strong and immediately they wanted a piece of it. Sage let out a quiet whimper...Mikoto's right arm was dead for the next like 7 minutes...and Ridley was drunk, she pushed her chair back as she stood up, ready to defend the crew's honor...and idiot captain.

"Crimson Chrysanthemum," whispered a quiet voice as a sword was quickly unsheathed and then re-sheathed. Three of the pirates lurched forward and hit the ground hard, all of them with a sharp slice straight through their clothing located on their back. "Do you guys mind? I'm trying to enjoy a good book...and I would rather not hear you guys have your butts being whooped by the 'Kid Coyote'...the pirate with a 38 million belie bounty and his...sister? Girlfriend?" asked the girl as she looked over her back at the two.

"Just a friend," said Sage as she backed up a bit, "I'm just his friend...and cook...and sort of his babysitter." Mikoto glared upwards at him, slightly annoyed by what she said.

"Ah...and his friend...the 'Plant Sage'. The pirate with a 23 million belie bounty," said the girl as she looked over her shoulder at the pirates. The entire group of pirates murmured something as they turned around, some of them lingered for a few more seconds, but turned around. The girl smiled as she pulled up a chair and sat down at the same table as Mikoto and Sage.

"Did you hear that?" asked Mikoto as he smiled smugly, turning around and looked at Sage, "I'm a 38 million belie kid. I think I deserve some credit...and another lemonade!" Mikoto pivoted around and looked outwards toward the waitress, he waved her over. "So, um...who do we owe the pleasure to...for you know making it where we didn't have to 'whoop' the butts of all those pirates."

"The name's Scarlet Rosa," said the lady with a smug smile, "and I'm one of the best Bounty Hunters in this part of the Grand Line."

The Blade of a Bounty Hunter!

A Nonstop Bounty Hunter Brawl!

Ta-da! The next chapter! Mikoto once again gets the crew in trouble...yeah, he's skilled. Anyways, Scarlet Rosa is not my creation. She was created by the one and only, Miyu Hinamori. So, thank her. Anyways, you know now the weaknesses to Mikoto's Rapid Fire. And for those of you who think...'7 minutes...that's nothing'...its actually a really long time to not be able to use your right arm...especially in a fight.

Also, for you riddle enthusiasts...probably like two people...here is Mikoto's riddle...

Fee Fi Fo Fum, First I heard my dinner come, Fo Fum Fee Fi, Then I smelt it going by, Fi Fo Fum Fee, Then I saw it try to flee, Fum Fee Fi Fo, then I touched it with my toe, Fee Fi Fo Fum, Now I'll taste it yum yum yum! I have used five things today, with one name, what is it pray?

50 CSpacian points to whoever answers it! (by the way if you have any idea of what I can use CSpacian points for feel free to suggest something.) I'll answer the riddle during the next chapter!

P.S. I am looking for villain OCs and Snipers for the crew. So start sending them in!